 I will praise you in the storm, even if you don't part my Red Sea. Pastor Robert Morgan served as congregation in Nashville, Tennessee for over 40 years. He is a best-selling author with more than 35 books in print and over 5 million copies in circulation in multiple languages. And in the midst of pastoring his church and writing his books, he was the caregiver of his late wife of 43 years, Katrina, who battled multiple sclerosis and passed away in November of 2019. Today, he's not slowing down. God has him on a new path. This is his story. This is Today's Nashville. This is faith. Pastor Rob, what a pleasure it is to sit down with you in your beautiful home. Well, I love having you here, Terry. Thank you. You and this great crew, thank you for coming. Well, you know, I just love everything that you're doing. You have been such a dear friend of ours and a pastor here in Nashville and so beloved in so many books. I have to tell you before we start, I had a friend of mine who had five bypasses and a heart valve repaired recently. And I went to visit them in the hospital and I grabbed one of your books. I always have your books on hand. The Red Sea rolls and we're going to talk about that in a bit. But let's go back. I want everybody to know who you are and everything that you've done. It's amazing. The books that you have written and the people you touch let's go back to the beginning and your family and when it all started. And I want to know, you know, when God called you into ministry? Well, and it is all the Lord. It's none of me. It's all of Him. Whatever doesn't work, I'll take the responsibility for. But whatever has been of use is of Him. I grew up in East Tennessee in the mountains. Between the Smoky Mountains and the Shenandoah, we call it the Blue Ridge, right on the Tennessee-North Carolina border. And my parents were very wonderful parents. They were both genuine hillbillies from the head of haulers in the Tennessee and North Carolina hills. But they were very bright, had gotten a great education, were both school teachers. I was only child until my sister was born about when I was six or seven. So I grew up really, the first six years of my life, I didn't have any friends. I just lived, you know, alone with my parents who were both very busy. And I think that has, I've been thinking recently that that has served me well through life. I'm alone now, but I don't feel lonely. And I think that had something to do with it. I went through high school with both of my parents being my teachers. And then I graduated, went to Columbia International University in South Carolina. And that's when I really said to the Lord, whatever you want with me, I'm willing. Now I grew up with a Christian background and I think that I knew the Lord. In fact, I don't remember a time when I didn't feel that I knew the Lord. But there came a point, and it was September the 2nd of 1971 when I just was so convicted that the Lord can't do anything with me until he has everything of me. And so I knelt down and really made that decision. And that was the most life-changing decision in my life. I was 19 years old. I think that all of us, all there is of me, needs to belong to all there is of him can empower and occupy and possess and use all there is of me. And that's sort of been my lifelong commitment. So I was there for three years, graduated in 1974. And then after graduation, I still didn't know what the Lord wanted me to do. I knew it was in some area of vocational ministry. But I led a team of preachers and singers that spent the summer in New England going to different camps. And one night I took a canoe out onto the lake. I was alone. The moon was shining. And when I left the dock, I didn't know what God wanted me to do with my life. And when I paddled back to the dock, I knew exactly the Lord wanted me to be a pastor. He just met with me on that lake and said, now I want you to leave here and be a pastor. So that was sort of a nutshell of how the Lord called me to do what I've done. So what did you do after that? And when did you meet Katrina? I met Katrina my senior year. She was from Maine and had moved to Florida as a secretary and then had come to Columbia International University to be a student and to work on staff there. So we met during my senior year, but we didn't date. I can distinctly remember meeting her. Both of us met tens of thousands of people and we don't remember most of the people that we... but I distinctly remember meeting her the moment that I met her. But we weren't in love. And when I graduated and left, I went on to Wheaton College and she was back at Columbia and we didn't have technology back then. So we wrote letters to each other. It cost 13 cents. That was how much I paid for a date about two or three times a week. And we kind of fell in love by writing letters. And then she came to East Tennessee to meet me for a few days. And I didn't really intend to propose. I proposed... I sort of accidentally proposed. We were sitting in the front seat of a car waiting for someone. And we were just talking about this long distance thing. And I said, you know, if we don't get married, we'll never get to know each other or fall in love. And she looked at me and she said, is that a proposal? And I mean, I hadn't really planned to propose. But I said, well, I guess it is. And she laughed and said, that's the funniest proposal I've ever had. And then I wondered how many of she had. Did you ask her? No, I never did. Never, ever did I ask her that. I didn't want to know. But anyway, she said, well, you want to know? And I said, expeditiously, when I get nervous, I use big words. And she said, well, the answer is yes. And all of a sudden we were engaged. I didn't have a ring. I didn't even know I was supposed to have a ring. So then it was awkward going back and telling my parents what had just happened while we were on the errand. But we got married shortly after that and had the most wonderful marriage. She was the person that God had prepared for me. I've met her. She was beautiful. I know. She loved you and Ted, yes. Well, Rob, did she know that you were called into ministry at that time? Yes. She said that she didn't really fall in love with me. She fell in love with my preaching. So when we entered ministry, and later I think she fell in love with me, but I think it was the preaching that I did that first attracted her. I mean, she honestly said that to me a number of times. I didn't fall in love with you. I fell in love with your preaching. She was the best pastor's wife. She was just made for that. And she would tell people, they would say, well, what does a pastor's wife do? And she would say the main thing a pastor's wife does is to take care of the pastor. And she really did. So we started out in a small church in Greenville, Tennessee, a little stone church out in the country. We had a wonderful two and a half years there. Our firstborn was born there. And then we moved to Nashville, where we remained for the rest of our married life until she passed away. Pastor Rob, we're going to pick up on that because God changed your life and is leading you down a new path. And we're going to talk about it when we come back. Pastor Rob, we were talking about your beautiful wife, Katrina. And a lot has happened in the last few years. We built this house in 1990, raised our family here, and then she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. So we decided that we should go ahead and travel. We knew that we might not be able to, like some couples do when they retire. So we did as much traveling as we could and gradually her condition became weaker. Well, how old was she when she was diagnosed? Well, that's a good question. Probably about 40 years old, maybe in her late 30s. And she gradually lost her ability to do things around here. She was a wonderful housekeeper and cook and pastor's wife and Bible teacher. And she continued her Bible teaching, but she lost the ability to do other things. So I became the chief cook and bottle washer. And we just did the best we could. We never worried about the future. We just took it one day at a time. I was her caregiver, but we say that we were each other's caregiver because you give care in so many different ways, one to the other. Finally, she came to a point where I knew she was really in trouble. I took her to Vanderbilt. They said she's not going to make it. I called the daughters, all three girls. They rushed there, but it was too late. Her eyes, she was already unconscious. So I said to the doctor at Vanderbilt, do you mind if we pray if this was in the emergency room? He said, no, but do you mind if I lead you in prayer? And he led us in the most wonderful prayer. And I went and knelt by her head and was just stroking her hair. And suddenly she opened her eyes and looked at me and smiled. And the Lord gave her to us for another month. And we brought her home. We had a great month together. The grandchildren all came. And then when we saw that she was really getting to the end, they all moved in here. It was quite a week. And the grandkids were up on her bed day and night. And she would smile at them in the stroker hand. And we would sing around her bed. And then she passed away. And it was on November 11, Veterans Day. The nurse who was with us back in the bedroom said she passed away at 11, 11 a.m. And someone said, 11, 11 on 11, 11. And my son-in-law pulled his Bible out and he said, listen to this, John 11, 11 says, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going to wake him up. And he was referring to the resurrection. And the Lord gave us John 11, 11 at 11, 11 on 11, 11. And that has been such a comfort to me. You know, I think, Terry, the thing that really was hard was that there were three losses. Now, people encounter loss all the time. And some of the loss is much more tragic and difficult than anything that I experienced. So I don't want to, but, you know, I had to step away from being a full-time pastor when she became... Can you add a large congregation? Well, yes, we had grown that church from 100 to 1,000 and poured our hearts into it. And I love being a pastor. That was what God called me to do. So stepping away and letting someone else take over. But that was a tremendous loss. That was the loss of my calling, you know, in a way. And that was a very difficult thing. And then losing Katrina. After she passed away, I stayed on at that church for another three or four years. But it became increasingly difficult to be the former pastor hanging around, you know, in a church with a leadership team going, what do they do with me? And so I thought it was better for me and for them if I left the church totally. And that's the church I'd been at for 42, 43 years. So I didn't realize the accumulative effect that those losses were having on me until they started showing up in my dreams. And I would just dream of those various things, you know, that I was trying to grapple with. So it does take time to adjust. But the Lord gave me some wonderful scriptures. You know, reading your Bible and praying every morning makes all the difference. I mean, all, all of the difference. And one morning as I was reading the Lord gave me Isaiah 43, which says, forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See, I'm doing a new thing. Do you not see it? Even now it springs up and I will make for you a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert. And I just grabbed onto that verse and since then God has opened new doors for me that I wouldn't have expected. In fact, I never was successful opening doors for me. I could nudge against them. I could try to go in a particular direction. But when I look back at my life, it has been a series of doors that I could never have opened that the Lord did. And there's an old song that says, his faithful follower, I will be, for by his hand he leadeth me. And that's sort of the testimony of how I've gotten through this period. You know, and he has led you. You know, you have over 70 books in print, over 5 million books in circulation. That's amazing. You know, we're going to talk about where God is leading you after the break. Pastor Rob, in the midst of all your changes, God is leading you down an amazing path. You're still writing your books. Tell me about them. Well, the guidance of the Lord has meant everything in the world to me. He leads us. He guides us. He opens doors. He makes our ways unfold in front of us. And I never would have thought that I would have been a writer. You know, I was a pastor. I was a preacher. But then some of my sermons begin showing up and things escalated from there. And I don't know how, but for the last 30 or 35 years I've never been without book contracts and multiple contracts. Right now, we are finishing up the Rules series. So we had the Red Sea Rules. I love the Red Sea Rules. And then after Katrina died, I did the Jordan River Rules about transitions in life from the Book of Joshua when the waters of the Jordan River parted. And the Israelis went through the transition and left their past behind and went forward. And that was a book called the Jordan River Rules. And now we have in production the Mediterranean Sea Rules, which is on the voyage and shipwreck of Saint Paul the Apostle. And that will, I think, be the end of that trilogy. But I'm also working on a book called Whatever Happens on the subject of Philippians, the Book of Philippians. This is a book that says whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a way that glorifies and honors the gospel of Christ. And we're living in a world right now when we don't know what's going to happen. We live in very unpredictable times. But the Book of Philippians has about 25 little chapters, and each one of them tell us something to do in unpredictable times. And so I'm working on that. That should be out from HarperCollins Christian Publishers within the next year or so. And I've got some ideas beyond that. So we're just... But my books come out of my own Bible study. You know, that precious book that God gave us. You never get to the end of it. Every day I'll learn new things in it. And so out of the ministry and writing and preaching, and I think everything else we do is overflow. It's always got to be overflow. And so you just, you learn, what I found in the Bible. And then it just, somehow, it overflows into these resources that I hope the Lord will bless. It's all of him. But people need encouragement today. So I hope we're able to do that. You know, going back to the rules, you know, the Red Sea Rules, the Jordan Rules, tell me a little bit about those and what inspired you. And what are those, like if somebody's listening today, how would those books encourage them? We took three stories. The Red Sea Rules was the story of the Israelites going through the Red Sea from Exodus 14. And there are lessons for us in that dramatic story. That was the major Old Testament miracle. And it showed the power of God. And that when we are at the end of ourselves, he can make a way. And so, so I did, you know, we did 10 principles from that. The Jordan River Rules is about the Lord parting the Jordan River and letting the Israelites go through. The Lord said to them, Prepare yourself today because the Lord will do wonders among you tomorrow. And there are some tremendous principles there about going forward. Now the Mediterranean Sea Rules will be based on Acts 27 and 28, the shipwreck of St. Paul the Apostle, one of the most dramatic stories in the New Testament. And the Lord said to Paul, Don't be afraid. I'm going to give you the lives of everybody on this ship, but you're going to wreck and go into the Mediterranean. And they all survived. But there are lessons through that. So we just take these Bible stories and draw out lessons for people and very little, small, easy to study increments. And we can't believe how Bible studies everywhere and individuals everywhere have come away those books. And I'm very grateful for it. Are they personal to you? They are. All of my books are personal because they really come out of my own convictions. People, ministers say to me, How do I know what to preach on Sunday? And I say, Well, what has God been speaking to you about? We don't go to the Bible to find sermons. We go to the Bible to feed our own souls. And then when we find something that impacts us, then it's very natural to pass that on to other people. In fact, we almost cannot help doing it either in sermons or books or videos or programs like this or whatever it is, you know. It's the overflow of what God is doing in our own lives. And the Holy Spirit then uses that to bless others. You know, we are living in uncertain times. What would you say to somebody that is fearful and anxious about the future? Well, the future is very unpredictable and the world is very uncertain. Right now, this matrix of evil that is developing between Russia, China, Iran and North Korea is so unpredictable. The world is changing. The balance of power is changing. The secularity of the United States is making us a hollow nation. So there is a lot of reason to be worried. There are better reasons not to be worried because in the middle of all of the uncertainty we have a very certain God who has given us a very infallible book full of promises that we can claim and appropriate for our lives. Whenever I go through anxiety, which is pretty often, I go to the Bible and I have, for 70 years, I have never failed to find a promise in the Bible that meets my need. And then I just have to hang on to that promise like a rope and the power of the Lord pulls me back up to my feet because we have a glorious God who loves us. We have eternal life. We have the Holy Spirit within us if we know Jesus as our Savior. He is our rock. He is our cornerstone. We stand on Him. Those who don't know Christ as their Savior don't have any of that stability. But those of us who have received Him as our Savior and depend on the cross of Christ and His resurrection as the foundation for our lives, we have a very, what the ancient hymn writers called a firm foundation. And we can stand on that and we can be joyful in that. The world needs to see the joy that we can have by the Holy Spirit in Jesus Christ. They are desperate for that. But you know, some people will say a loving God would not cause all the evilness. You know, we've seen it this week here in Nashville. What do you say to somebody who says that? There is a mystery to why there is suffering in life. I don't fully understand it. But I do know that God is dealing with it and that He'll continue to deal with it until evil is extinguished. And we have that promise in the Bible. The Bible says, right now we do not see everything subject to Jesus, but we see Jesus. And one day all things will be subject to Him. So as we go through the sorrows and sufferings of life, the Lord has given us grace. He has given us promises. And we see Him working. And even in the midst of heartache and difficulty, sometimes that's where we see the Lord working the best. So we can either look to Him or we can go insane and live in the absurdity of a secularism that has no hope, no God, and no answers for time like this. And I think that in times like these we need a Savior. Pastor Rob, it is such a blessing to sit down here with you today. I just want to thank you. Well, you know how much I love and appreciate all that you've done. And may the Lord bless you, Terry. And thank you. And may everybody watching this be encouraged by you and your ministry. Thank you. My friend, are you facing a raging storm? Do you need your sea or the Jordan pardon? Remember, we serve a powerful God. And He is wanting to know you today. Trust Him with your life. This is Today's Nashville. This is Faith. Cornerstone Television wishes to thank all our faithful viewers, whose consistent prayers and financial support have made this program possible.